We parked at the barricade on the oil and gas road at Spionkop valley and proceeded to hike for over an hour up the road.
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| James "Fresh Legs" Y. starting down the road. There must have been 6+ sour gas flares in this valley, you can see 2 alone in this photo. |
Heading up the road at 9:30, we soon ran into a group of 12 mule deer. A few minutes later we spooked a small herd of sheep, so although hiking on a gravel road can be tedious, the morning's trek was at least entertaining from a wildlife viewing perspective. You can see why this valley is a popular spot for hunting.
Eventually, we passed the gravelled portion of the road and continued onto the hiking path/cart trail. We eventually picked a spot to gain the ridge that was about 3 km short of the peak by the time we topped out.
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| Crux |
There were 2-3 good scrambling pitches (class III/IV depending on how your tongue hangs out) on the way up.
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| peek a boo, now it's my turn |
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| time for some lunch and how come my left calf is cramping |
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| "There was about 3 inches of penetration (into that snow)". |
THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!
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| Panoramic shot on way up (lunch view), Spreadeagle accross the way |
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| We gained the ridge near a false summit a few clicks short of Loaf Mountain. |
My legs were feeling pretty tired and I would've happily called it a day at that point, but nooooo! From the false summit, we dropped back down to the rounded ridge and continued to the true, snowy summit to the west!
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| Footsteps in the snow. Not Jesus, twas another J... Jimmy got way ahead of me and hauled ass, as I was lolly gagging behind a ways he thought I had decided to bail (note to self: next time, get in shape and also bring radios!) |
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| cornice feature close up |
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| looking back down ridge to false summit |
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| Panorama from summit looking south |
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| yahoo! |
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| summit register hasn't been signed since 2010 (probably from lack of pencil) |
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| Going down |
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| Snow near the summit was great (almost ideal) for walking on. If you look closely in this photo you can see a blue dot, that's J sleeping on the ridge below |
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| J awakes from his extended nap while waiting for me |
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| Castle peak from ridge |
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| Back on ridge. We were on top o' that bad boy |
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| Looking North from ridge |
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| Going down scree escalator |
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| Going down, hey snow is firm |
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| I just noticed James's gaiters match his jacket |
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| Icefalls (photo touched up in picasa) |
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| back on the trail at 4:30ish, photo doctored in picasa. |
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| ice falls, looking very crumbly |
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| cro magnon man or deer skull |
Took us until 6:50 to hike back to cars (9h20 min car to car). Last hour on the road was a bit painful. Note to self: next time, bring a bike. I'm talking to you, Spionkop ridge (and Yarrow creek)!
